#53 | DCX - Perspectives and insights on digital customer experience
Blending CX and UX: Creating a Seamless Customer Journey; Steal This Template!; Links to Industry news, ideas, insights, and the Linkedin Thought Leader Profile of the Week!
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Blending CX and UX: Creating a Seamless Customer Journey
Hey there! We're chatting today about two critical elements that shape customer interactions with our products or services: Customer Experience (CX) and User Experience (UX). Think of them like two puzzle pieces - they slot together to create a fantastic experience. Collaborating on UX has been crucial for my career in CX. Let's explore how it can benefit you.
Picture yourself in a store. The way the staff interacts with you, the time you spend in line, even how effortlessly you find what you want - all these elements merge to form your Customer Experience. Consider your beloved pizza joint. They greet you by name, remember your usual order, and serve your pizza piping hot. That's top-notch CX! But, if you hit a store where the staff is dismissive and you can't find your needed items, you're in for a bad CX.
Next, let's look at User Experience, or UX for short. This concept is about your feelings when you engage with a product or service, particularly digital ones. Imagine it as a journey from the moment you start using a product, like an app or a website, to the point you stop. This journey has multiple stops; each should be comfy, enjoyable, and straightforward.
Remember an app you used that was super user-friendly? You knew exactly where to tap, the colors and fonts were soothing, and everything ran smoothly. That's a great UX. Instagram is a practical example. It's easy to scroll, like, comment, and post pictures or stories. It's designed to make these tasks straightforward and enjoyable, leading to a superb user experience.
Now, visualize a website with tiny, unreadable text, unclearly labeled buttons, and constant error messages. That would be a poor UX. Think of an online store with a bewildering layout. Maybe the search function is faulty, the checkout process is complicated, and it's unclear where to view your cart. These design flaws make the website hard to use, creating a frustrating user experience.
So, where do CX and UX intersect, and why does it matter? Take Netflix as an example.
Netflix showcases the overlap of CX and UX. Its platform provides an excellent UX: it's easy to navigate, playback is seamless, and the recommendation system suggests new content based on your history. The text, images, and buttons are straightforward and user-friendly. This allows you to accomplish your goal - watching content - without confusion. That's solid UX.
Netflix is not only known for its impressive entertainment selection but also for providing an exceptional customer experience. Their customer service is reliable and efficient, billing is uncomplicated, and they keep customers informed about new content. Moreover, they genuinely appreciate customer feedback, enhancing overall interaction with the company. This is a prime example of outstanding CX.
The convergence lies in how these two aspects boost your satisfaction. The top-notch UX makes platform usage a breeze, while the excellent CX makes you feel valued. Together, they make Netflix a preferred choice for online streaming.
On the flip side, imagine a fictional online store, "ShopFrustrating". The site layout is confusing (bad UX), it's tough to find items, and the checkout process is complicated. Moreover, their customer service leaves you on hold for ages, and when you do get through, they aren't helpful (bad CX). Here, the poor UX and CX reinforce each other, making your overall interaction with ShopFrustrating...well, frustrating!
These examples illustrate that UX and CX are different pieces of the same puzzle, both crucial in shaping a customer's perception of a brand. Hence, companies aiming for customer satisfaction should pay equal attention to both.
So, how can you ensure both CX and UX are top-tier? Some tips include:
- Hearing from Users: Actively seek feedback and make improvements accordingly.
- Trying Out Products: Before launching a new app or website, have real people test them to ensure they're user-friendly.
- Collaborating: Teams focusing on CX and UX should regularly communicate to ensure they work towards a common goal: keeping customers satisfied.
Peeking into the future, technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) promise to make CX and UX even more fascinating. For example, AI could personalize your experience by remembering your preferences and recommending products accordingly. On the other hand, VR could turn product testing into an interactive adventure, like exploring a virtual store or trying out a game in a virtual world before it hits the market.
Both CX and UX play a critical role in keeping customers happy. The better a company performs in these areas, the more likely you'll enjoy their products or services. And with the rise of such cool technology, who knows how exciting CX and UX could become?
Over to you! Ever had any terrific or dreadful experiences with CX or UX? Share your stories in the comments below. And if you're part of a business, consider improving your CX and UX. Ask your customers for feedback, and brainstorm with your team for fresh ideas. Remember, however small, every improvement enhances your customers' experiences!
Steal This Template
I prefer not to reinvent the wheel. Instead, I find it more efficient to use established frameworks and templates. Here’s a template I created for running a design thinking workshop that I find particularly useful when diving into a new CX challenge.
Go ahead. Steal it. It’s quite all right. Highlight, copy, and paste into your favorite Notes app!
Design Thinking Workshop for [CX Initiative] - [Date]
Workshop Overview:
Purpose: This design thinking workshop aims to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to collaborate on identifying customer pain points, generating innovative solutions, and developing a concrete action plan for the [CX Initiative].
Duration: Specify the duration of the workshop (e.g., half-day, full-day, multi-day).
Participants: List the participants involved in the workshop, including their roles and departments.
Agenda:
- Introduction and warm-up activity (Duration: XX minutes)
- Empathize: Understanding the customer (Duration: XX minutes)
- Define: Identifying customer needs and problems (Duration: XX minutes)
- Ideate: Generating ideas and solutions (Duration: XX minutes)
- Prototype: Creating a tangible representation of the solution (Duration: XX minutes) -
- Test: Validating the solution and gathering feedback (Duration: XX minutes)
Action planning and next steps (Duration: XX minutes) Workshop wrap-up and closing (Duration: XX minutes)
Pre-Workshop Preparation:
- Participant invitations and RSVPs
- Workshop materials and supplies (e.g., sticky notes, whiteboards, markers)
- Pre-workshop reading materials or activities (if applicable)
- Setup of the workshop space (e.g., seating arrangement, technology)
Workshop Activities:
- Warm-up activity: Describe a brief activity to help participants get acquainted and energized for the workshop.
- Empathize: Outline activities for understanding the customer, such as customer interviews, journey mapping, or persona development.
- Define: Explain the process for identifying customer needs and problems, including activities like problem statement formulation and prioritization.
- Ideate: Describe activities for generating ideas and solutions, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, or idea voting.
- Prototype: Explain the process for creating a tangible representation of the solution, including materials and tools to be used.
- Test: Describe activities for validating the solution and gathering feedback, such as roleplaying, customer feedback sessions, or usability testing.
Post-Workshop Follow-Up:
- Workshop debrief and documentation: Summarize the key insights, ideas, and action items from the workshop, and share them with the participants and relevant stakeholders.
- Action planning: Develop a detailed action plan for implementing the chosen solution(s), including tasks, timelines, and responsible parties.
- Evaluation and feedback: Collect feedback from workshop participants to assess the workshop's effectiveness and identify areas for improvement in future workshops.
- Ongoing communication and updates: Keep participants and stakeholders informed about the progress and outcomes of the CX initiative, leveraging the insights and momentum generated during the workshop.
I’d love to hear how it works for you!
This week I posed a question to our colleagues in the Customer Experience Professionals Group on Linkedin about CX organizational structure.
Another poll with significant participation included great discussion and debate about whether CX should have its own department.
The poll results show a clear preference for having a dedicated department for Customer Experience (CX).
1. Yes, always (65% of votes): A substantial majority of respondents believe that CX should always have its own dedicated department, suggesting they see the value in specialized teams that can focus exclusively on customer experience.
2. Only if reporting to the CEO (18% of votes): The second most popular option suggests that some respondents believe a dedicated CX department is beneficial, but only if it reports directly to the CEO. This could imply they see CX as a strategic function that requires executive oversight to be effective.
3. No, it's everyone's job (14% of votes): A smaller group of respondents believe that CX should be the responsibility of everyone in the organization, potentially indicating a preference for a more distributed model of CX responsibility.
4. It's a marketing function (3% of votes): Very few respondents see CX as purely a marketing function, implying that they view CX as a broader, organization-wide concern that extends beyond just marketing.
These results suggest a general consensus that a dedicated CX department is beneficial, with different opinions on how it should be structured and where it should report within the organization.
Key Arguments:
1. Distributed CX versus Dedicated CX Team: Several individuals are debating whether Customer Experience (CX) should be a shared responsibility across all departments or if there should be a dedicated team. The joint agreement seems to be that both models can coexist. A dedicated CX team can provide focus and specialized skills, while a shared responsibility ensures a customer-centric culture across the organization.
2. Size and complexity of the organization matter: Svetlana C. and Konstantin Vashkevich suggest that the decision to have a dedicated CX department depends on the organization's size, complexity, and strategic priorities.
3. Cross-functional approach: Sam Klaidman proposes a cross-functional team model where personnel from different departments swarm around a problem until it's resolved. This team would consist of CX, Continuous Improvement, and Quality members.
4. Division of CX between marketing and customer service: Simon Korsholm points out that CX is often split between marketing and customer service, each with its senior-level leaders.
Suggestions:
1. Integration and alignment: Several participants propose the need for integration and alignment across departments to ensure a seamless CX, bridging the traditional gaps between departments such as marketing and customer service.
2. Empowerment: Luis Barés emphasizes the importance of empowering the CX team to influence other parts of the business, suggesting that a dedicated CX department can bridge the gap between business architectures and revenue-generating experiences.
3. Cultural Change: Several commentators, like Kim R., argue for fostering a culture where everyone can deliver excellent customer service, though there may be a dedicated team for managing specific tasks. She suggests that those with inherent customer service skills can be leveraged to train others in the organization.
4. Resource Optimization: Konstantin stresses the need to efficiently handle CX duties through different departments, promoting a robust customer-centric culture across all business units. Depending on organizational specifics, this distributed model can be an alternative to a separate CX department.
This poll underlines the diverse approaches to Customer Experience (CX) implementation. It affirms no universal CX strategy but a need to tailor it to each organization's specifics.
Thank you, participants, for your valuable insights and dynamic discussion on the evolving field of CX. Your contributions and dedication to enhancing the customer journey are highly appreciated.
Links
Economic potential of generative AI | McKinsey - Generative AI applications have been gaining attention due to their broad utility and ability to converse with users. This report explores the potential of generative AI. It estimates that it can generate up to $4.4 trillion of value annually across 63 use cases by augmenting the capabilities of individual workers and automating some of their activities.
The hybrid world is taking shape, creating an opportunity to design immersive experiences...anywhere - Brian Solis: This is an example of a portal that appears on a beach, instantly transporting shoppers into a thematic virtual store for Serendipity Furniture Co. AMixedreality glasses will eventually become portable and straightforward unlocking immersive worlds everywhere.
Must-Read Customer Experience Books in 2022 - Qualtrics Discover the top 10 must-read books for CX leaders in 2023, aimed at enhancing customer experiences and fostering trust and loyalty to gain a competitive edge in the market. These titles cover various topics, including rethinking established practices, strengthening business-customer relationships, leveraging customer feedback, gaining an advantage over rivals, and propelling growth in the B2B arena.
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But don’t just take it from me:
Every week, I share a person's profile from Linkedin that I think will benefit your life and career.
This week, meet Shilpa Mudiganti, Senior Director, CX Data and Systems at Comcast and the host of the podcast SimplifiCXM.
Shilpa is committed to providing customers with a seamless and enjoyable experience with Comcast Advertising. She achieves this by leveraging connected systems and valuable data.
When she's not working, Shilpa hosts SimplifiCXM on Spotify, a podcast that explores how technology and data can enhance customer experiences. She aims to simplify customer experience management and offer helpful advice for improving it. She interviews industry experts who provide valuable insights and growth strategies for businesses.
The podcast episodes cover a variety of topics related to customer experience management, including:
The return on investment (ROI) of customer experience.
The culture, process, and habits of user experience (UX).
The role of customer relationship management (CRM) in customer experience.
The importance of data for CRM.
The impact of customer experience on a company’s balance sheet.
The role of UX in the digital space.
The importance of being customer-centric in all aspects of a business.
Connecting with her, introducing yourself, and tapping her follow button can lead to great things. Give it a try and see for yourself.